The Masked Knight

Chapter 7

The Masked Knight’s P. O. V.

The Assembly ended at last.

Everyone returned to their respective places after witnessing the most honorable moment today. And for me it was nothing but a great humiliation in front of all cause, I was asked to combine our troops with that of Tristen’s in order to strengthen the defense of this kingdom as per the order of the new King Luther.

By declaring so, the king might have tried to prove that my warriors are not capable enough to ensure the safety of this Uxtan Valley Kingdom. That is why he suggested to merge our troops in front of the entire court that I could not even speak against such a decision.

I was also asked to share our grounds with the other warriors just because we are going to be working together from now on. Dammit.

What a joke the king made out of me!!!

Did he really think that I am not going to understand what the King is truly intending to do by putting us all together? Did he actually believe that I am not going to realize that it is nothing but his deliberately paved trap to keep people like us under control by raising a conflict between two most powerful troops on his land?

Yes, that is what the King might have planned.

He always knew that the royal court just can not afford to mess with me and my troop from the beginning and now the arrival of another troop of the strongest warriors who had already fought a deadly battle for seven long years, would definitely cause a lot of problems for the King.

King Luther is definitely wicked enough to understand the current situation very well as he might have realized that offending two such powerful troops will only make it hard for him to rule this kingdom on his own way. So, for him, it would be better to bring them all together which will definitely end up in internal conflicts among us while it would be much easier for him to keep us under his watch.

See…. Didn’t I say earlier that, things are not that easy and simple as it appears to be? Honoring me and my warriors is nothing but just the part of his wicked plan and nothing else. And the same goes for Tristen and his troop as well.

All this assembly, gatherings, honoring the knights and all are just nothing but a well scripted play played by the King Luther himself and his court.

And when this play was going on during the assembly I just stood there and did nothing even when my hands were itching to lift up the sword and behead that vicious Luther in just one swift move, drenching the throne in his thick crimson blood in front of everyone present here today.

But I controlled myself for today, thinking that it is only a matter of a few more time when I will actually get the chance to quench my thirst. So, I decided to keep it all to myself for this time at least.

Even when I have succeeded to keep my rage under control, I did not know how I actually managed not to lose my composure when I was finally called before the King to be honored. Cause I had to go and stand next to Tristen to continue with the rest of the procedures.

For another time in my life, I was indeed so very grateful towards this mask which helped me stay hidden even when I was standing in front of all, in front of the evil King and in front of Tristen.

 From then on everything is still blur in my mind as if I was not in my right mind back then. The only thing I kept praying for was to end this assembly as soon as possible, so that I could get out of this place as soon as possible. It was kind of suffocating me for the first time in my life.

And when my wished did come true at last, I waited for none and rushed out from the royal court only to come back straight to my tent. No, I didn’t even care to listen to Sabastian as well, who seemed like he was trying to say something to me on my way out but it is just that I didn’t stop even when he kept calling me.

Even after coming back to my place, I just could not help but think about what just happened within the past few hours.

Soon after, there were footsteps outside my tent which I might have failed to hear at this moment.

“Chief.” A voice pulled me back from my trance all of a sudden and only then I cared to look back only to find that Sabastian is now standing right before my eyes. Maybe he really has something urgent to say to me. So, no matter how miserable I am right now, I must not forget my responsibilities towards them who believes in me.

“What is it, Sabastian?” I asked in a low voice as I am really feeling down today unlike before when I used to be fierce and strong willed that even death could not defeat me five years ago.

But today is different.

“You must come out and see for yourself.” He replied hesitantly after some time.

“What happened?” I stood up anxiously as Sabastian’s words made me quite worried for some reason. So, even before he could answer I stormed out of my tent right away only to see that all my warriors have gathered up near the iron gate and have already started some kind of commotion.

“Tristen and his force have arrived already and they are waiting just outside the gate to enter into our grounds just as the King have ordered in today’s assembly. So, what is your command, chief?” Sabastian informed with his heavy voice. I knew that he was dying to meet his brother after seven long years but still he was well aware of his duty towards his chief and his fellow warriors as well, which obviously comes first for him. And this quality about Sabastian is what makes me so proud of him.

No, I have no intention to disappoint him either.

“What about the guards?” I asked once again, seeing that the gates were still closed.

“They are just waiting for your orders, chief. What should we do?” He looked at my way for my words with a lot of hope in those very similar blue eyes.

And I just could not help but sigh.

“Open the gates.” I declared and returned to my ground in a rush, without bothering to wait for the warriors to come inside our land.

While walking away, I heard Sabastian’s loud voice from behind who was telling the guards to open the iron gates right away, so that his brother and the other warriors could enter. But his voice remained indifferent which I did not expect at all.

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.

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It was already evening when Sabastian came to me once again.

I was working on the plan about how to improve our defense as well as the strategy to keep the King away from our affairs just like before without creating any difficulties for the other troop of warriors.

Now that the night has already started to fall, it was getting a bit difficult to keep my vision clear when the last ray of the sun had already disappeared beyond the horizon long ago, letting the darkness slowly take its place for the coming night. At this moment I really felt the need to lit up the lamp so that I can continue with my work. I walked around inside the tent in darkness in search for some match sticks and when I finally found them, I was about to get the lanterns to lit it up just when Sabastian arrived.

Just in time.

In no time the inside of the tent brightened up as Sabastian brought the lantern along with him, just like every other day. I noticed that other men came too to set up the lamps outside the tents as well.

But under the dim light which kept coming from the lantern that Sabastian was still holding in his hand, I felt something off about him tonight for some unknown reason.

“You came right on time. Just keep the lantern here.” I said and went back to my desk to continue doing whatever I was busy with up until now, bothering the least about what I felt about Sabastian tonight. It seemed like something was bothering him, indeed. But I chose to stay indifferent as I know very well that Sabastian was no one to keep it all inside him.

If he feels like telling me, he will definitely do so.

So, I did not even try to force him.

He just quietly followed my instructions and kept standing at one place. Indeed, tonight he was exceptionally quiet, and my assumptions were definitely right about him. After all I know him for so long now.

“Did you set up the lights all around the ground?” I asked, keeping my eyes fixed on the papers which were lying on the desk.

“Yes, Chief.” He replied.

“Have the other warriors settled on our ground already?” I enquired even when I knew that I do not even have to worry about that stuff when Sabastian is already here to look after these kinds of matters.

But this time he stayed silent, quite unexpectedly. And I found enough reason to get irritated all of a sudden.

“What is it, Sabastian?” no, I could not help myself and ended up asking at last, as I just could not stay focused on my work any longer.

And for some reason, Sabastian’s silence kept making me even more anxious with each passing time.

“Chief. There is something that I think I should inform you.” He finally cared to open his damn mouth.

“I am listening.” I folded my arms on my chest and stood straight, keeping my eyes fixed on Sabastian now. Yes, I am indeed curious about what he is going to say now.

“Well, I met my brother already.” He carefully uttered his words and took a little pause, only to check what my reaction is right now after he mentioned his brother all of a sudden.

I stayed indifferent and asked him to continue,

“And?”

Realizing that his unnecessary pause has already started to getting on my nerves, he did not dare to stay quiet any further and said once again,

“Well, he was asking me about the past. He wanted to know what happened to the previous King and Queen and even what happened to this Kingdom after he was gone to the battle.” Sabastian’s voice trembled for a second but did not break this time.

“And what did you say?” I asked sternly.

“I only informed him about what people kept on believing for the past five years till now and he is just not ready to accept it yet.” He stopped at last.

“Then it is his problem, not ours.” Saying what I have to say in the end, I turned around to get to my work just when Sabastian opened his mouth once again and this time what came out from his mouth, stopped me on my track without any prior warning.

“He was also asking a lot about Princess Diana, chief.” That was what Sabastian said.

Yes, I know. It certainly took just a few words to feel some kind of strange pain underneath my chest in no time.

No, I found no words for what Sabastian just said. I could not even gather up any strength to ask him what exactly his answer was.

I don’t know why but the suffocating feeling from this afternoon once again came back all of a sudden at this moment and left me panting inwardly.

For the first time in my life, I got afraid.